PKSOI/GLOBAL TRENDS CASE STUDIES A Drone's Strike Away | Page 17

Case Study #1118-08
PKSOI TRENDS GLOBAL CASE STUDY SERIES
civilian population and infrastructure, and they must suspend or cancel an attack if the expected incidental
harm or damage to civilians or civilian objects would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct mili-
tary advantage anticipated. 132
Two prominent human rights organizations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, both released reports
in 2013 concluding that some US airstrikes actually violated these rules of war, citing for instance an attack in a Yeme-
ni village that killed 12 people, including three children and a pregnant woman and a 2009 attack in Yemen when 41
Bedouin civilians were killed by American cluster bombs. 133 The basic questions is what laws apply? Is the US operating
in theater under international humanitarian law (a war context) or human rights law (a peacetime context)? And what
about the military use of drones in non-combat operational environments.
Drones for Peace
Inspired by the successes of UAV surveillance in western countries, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
began deploying drones for surveillance in the Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in
early 2013 as part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) to “improve
awareness and promote deterrence to those who move around with bad intentions in that area.” 134 Initially, the UN was
hesitant to announce a deployment date, because of the continued and much criticized use of drones in Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Somalia and stark opposition from countries in the Great Lakes region, especially Rwanda, arguing that
“Africa should not become a laboratory for intelligence devices from overseas. China, Guatemala, Pakistan and Russia
also raised concerns regarding the deployment of UAVs. Later, however, [Rwandan] President Paul Kagame indicated
that if the UN thinks the drones will help achieve peace, then let them [deploy them].” 135
And indeed, drones have been credited with ending violence. In March 2013, the UN Security Council authorized
MONUSCO to contract drone capability and revised its mandate to now also “take all necessary measures” to “neu-
tralize” and “disarm” groups that pose a threat to “state authority and civilian security.” 136 At the end of the October
2013, DRC government forces, with the support of UN peacekeepers, launched a military offensive against the M23
rebel group, declaring “total victory” over the rebels after only two weeks of military action. “It is reported that Rwanda
and Uganda, the suspected supporters of the M23 rebels, refrained from intervening due to concern that they would be
discovered by UAVs deployed by the victorious forces.” 137
The UN had used drones for aerial surveillance already in 2006 to monitor trans-border activities of armed groups along
the Sudanese borders with Chad and the Central African Republic. 138 Indeed, drones have helped crime and conflict
monitoring. As Scandinavian researchers John Karlsrud and Frederik Rosen explain:
Having drones in the air over particularly volatile areas would allow peacekeepers to register suspicious be-
havior, even at night, and monitor movements of groups and individuals, checking for weapons and other items
that would indicate hostile intentions. Drones could also be used for detecting arms smuggling and breaches of
embargos. There is thus reason to believe that the presence of drones could have a deterrent effect on adversar-
ies. 139
But deploying them during ongoing conflict was a watershed moment for peacekeeping. The fact that drone technology
can deliver high-quality, close-up images in real time considerably improves the situational awareness of UN peacekeep-
ers, as the following scenario illustrates:
An attack on a village a few kilometers from the compound is being reported, yet currently the only way to
assess the situation is by moving troops into the area, which could take hours. With drones, it would take only-
minutes from the arrival of a report before high-quality images could be reviewed. 140
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